Promising new drugs and shorter regimens for the treatment of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis are beginning to emerge. Bharathi Ghanashyam reports ahead of World TB Day.

Nowadays when Tarsil Orao (50) wakes up in his little hut in a village near Bilaspur, Chhattisgarh, he does not reach out for a customary morning cup of tea. The cost of tea leaves, sugar, milk and fuel is more than his household can absorb on the meagre income he earns as a casual agriculture labourer. Come lunchtime, there is but one dish on the menu - cooked white rice. Vegetables and lentils are out of the household too. Now it is rice once a day, every day and twice only on days that the subsidised rice they get is still available. Children and adults alike eat the same.

This is a piece that has done the rounds of three mainstream newspapers. It was accepted by one but not published so I sent it to others. The second and third did not even acknowledge the many mails I sent enquiring about its fate. Does that make me a bad writer? Is the media my enemy? Do they have something personal against me? It’s none of these. It’s just that TB does not make news. But I want to get the messages out. So I’m using my own platform. I request all those who read this to please pass it on. That’s the best we can do under the circumstances.